PYRENEES FLY FISHING REPORT 10TH JUNE 2024
Currently, the Segre, Noguera Pallaresa and Ter rivers are at high or very high levels for trout fly fishing.
The best at the moment in terms of level and flow is the Alto Segre, followed by the upper Ter and the Noguera Pallaresa, which is still too high for acceptable fishing and only at its confluence with the Cardós River does it have an acceptably good level for fly fishing with nymphs. The rest of the river is unfishable due to its very high flow.
After persistent droughts on the peninsula until the end of 2023, rain and snow finally arrived in the winter and spring months. They cleaned and supplied abundant water to the three rivers that are now high but in their upper part they are already fishable and in the coming weeks they will be fishable along their entire length.
The current levels will drop and the three rivers will be good for fly fishing in the next two months, increasing or decreasing their flow depending on the storms that occur in the valleys of the Pyrenees.
SEGRE RIVER
So far the best of the three. High level but fishable in its upper part. The trout are very active and bite mainly on well-presented nymphs. It’s still a little early to fish exclusively with a dry fly. The water of the river is a little cold at 12ºC and the water level varies between 6m3/sec in its highest section, after the crossing with the Aravó river, to 10m3/sec in the town of Seu d’Urgell. This flow will decrease in the coming weeks.
The waters present an acceptable turbidity along its 80 kilometer route. From La Seu de Urgell to Organyà the river is very high with 30m3/sec and is not suitable for fishing, apart from being dangerous to enter its waters.
Until the month of August the river will present good to excellent conditions for fishing. Then it will depend on the rains and storms of the Pyrenees.
TER RIVER (HIGH TER)
This river has a high flow but is very good for dry fly, nymph and sight fishing. The Ter river has a flow of 8m3/sec in Ripoll and around 3.5m3/sec upstream in its two slopes, the Freser and the Ter. The water temperature is around 12ºC.
The river in its lower part in the town of Anglés to its mouth does not have sufficient flow for fishing, only 2m3/sec. Fishing in this sector is not good and has greatly decreased due to the scarcity of water since it depends on the two reservoirs that are currently only 30% full. It is not advisable to go to this destination until the river recovers its level and is cleaned of algae since it is also very dirty.
The upper Ter very well with small mayflies and nymphs with fine threads. At the moment it is raining moderately in the two valleys and it is expected that the rains will continue for the next two weeks. If the rains continue in June and August as is usual in these valleys of the Pyrenees, the fishing will continue to be good. These stretches of river do not have the amount of trout from the Segre or the Noguera Pallaresa, but rather zebra trout of all sizes that enter dry flies, no matter how large they are. It’s very interesting.
NOGUERA PALLARESA RIVER
The Noguera Pallaresa has a flow that is too high to be able to fish well, because it has rained and snowed a lot throughout its basin in winter and spring. You have to wait a few weeks to fish its entire length and as I said before, only the upper part at the confluence with the Cardós River has an acceptable flow, 5m3/sec for nymph fishing. The Noguera Pallaresa in its lower part has a flow between 30m3/sec and 65m3/sec and the water temperature is 11ºC on average. In the upper part, the water once unloaded from the Pyrenean lakes, the flow is 7m3/sec. Still too high.
Starting in June, the trout feed on dry flies and nymphs, but for the moment the largest catches will be made with Czech-style weighted nymphs.
The Cardós tributary is good for dry fly, nymph and sight fishing. The Vallferrera river still has too high a flow but you can fish with nymphs.
In short, this beautiful river still needs a few weeks to fish in it with an adequate flow, that is, when it carries an average of 12m3/sec up to a maximum of 25 or 35m3/sec when it receives the daily high mountain flood of the lakes of the pyrenees.
As a very important and special consideration: BE VERY CAREFUL WHEN WADING THIS RIVER, ITS FLOW INCREASES SUDDENLY AND WITHOUT WARNING AND THEN IS VERY DANGEROUS.
The flow will be good even in the most critical time of summer and the appearance of rain and storms is expected during the summer.
~Carles V.